Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar. It is observedon the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. RoshHashanah represents either analogically or literally the creation of the World.However, according to one view in the Talmud, Rosh Hashanah commemoratesthe creation of man, which means that five days earlier, the 25th of Elul, was thefirst day of creation of the world. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidaysor Yamim Noraim. The Talmud in Masechet Rosh Hashanah states that threebooks of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the wicked,the righteous, and those of an intermediate class are recorded. The names of therighteous are immediately inscribed in the book of life, and they are sealed “tolive.” The middle group is allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to repentand become righteous; the wicked are “blotted out of the book of the living.”